Untitled
by XHer Ink StainX
Summary: Just a bit of Leisure writing... But it does include a characer dying just to let you know! R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own FMA and probably NEVER will… sadly. And I don't own the song, either, it's Simple Plan's!

A/N: Now, before you people start thrashing at me, this idea was forming slowly but surely in my mind and eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and had to put it down. There will be NO other chapters to this story! Another quick note; I know how the series ends or what not, so this little story has nothing to really do with how the series ends… But there may be spoilers. Oh, and another note: I understand that the song I used was intended for drunk driving warning purposes and that it has nothing to do with the connection I made with it in this story so… Just so you know, I understand the meaning of the song's original purpose!

Untitled

_I open my eyes  
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light  
I can't remember how  
_

Ed tried to open heavy eye-lids, but found that he had to focus to do so, which was his first realization something was defiantly wrong. As he slowly unshielded his eyes from their lids, he quickly shut them again from the sudden contact of the blinding light that hung above him.

_I can't remember why  
I'm lying here tonight _

He gripped at sheets beneath him… _sheets…_He found recalling anything difficult from how numb his body and mind felt as his grip on the sheets intensified from physical pain.

_And I can't stand the pain  
And I can't make it go away  
No I can't stand the pain _

A sudden body-racking pain of such a inexperienced magnitude originate from his middle. He clenched his teeth together and all thoughts that might have caused him to be put into a bed faded from his cloudy mind as he attempted to open his eyes again, only to find them now hard to focus on their own.

"Ed?"

"Brother!" several different voices came from all directions and as he tried to focus on either of them, the more muffled and distorted they sounded. He felt a very warm hand grip his and, for the first time, he opened his eyes to greet his flesh brother. Al… His body was back and Ed felt a numb and involuntary smile tug at his pale lips. Winry was there too, and the more he focused on her, the more he noticed fresh tears start to stain her already wet cheeks. Everything was defiantly wrong…

_How could this happen to me _

Something, in the pit of his damaged stomach, told him he'd done what he wished for… but at a price he'd not regret, but his brother might. He tried so much to squeeze his brother's hand back but frustrated tears only came and Winry, who was now kneeling before him on the bed he lay upon, gave a choking sob. _So this is it… _He took in a shaky breath and found that it only made his throat sore and the lump that hid there throb irritably. Winry grabbed at his shoulder and he let his head fall to the side to meet her tearful gaze, which he returned with a numb smile.

_I made my mistakes  
I've got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away _

"Bro-Brother…" Al stammered as his own tears began to run down his face. His first tears in a flesh body again, and he had caused them. He wished they had been happy tears, but he couldn't remember if he had when he first returned to the way he was before or not. There was no way of turning back now and this thought made him finally return the hold his brother had on his hand. He felt his strength and awareness take a plummet and his hands began to shake. This was how it would end, all those years thinking that their achievements and hardships at getting their bodies back wouldn't gain them anything… _Equivalent exchange, right? _Al would get to start over, but to be able to gain that, Al would have to lose something…

"I guess….this… is how I… repent?" Ed croaked after several tries.

_I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me _

Al looked at him incredulously and squeezed, if possible, harder on his elder brother's cold hand.

"Why would you say something like that, silly." he asked with false optimism, which caused Ed to smile to the spinning ceiling.

"Because, steel-for-brains, I'm tired… too tired… I-" Ed grunted and cringed as his voice took a sudden difference in tone and his breathing became more raspy and shallow. "I'm…j-just… so tired… I wanna s-sleep… I'm tired of-f… this l-life I f-follow…" Al didn't understand the meaning of "steel-for-brains," or his words. Winry's grip on his shoulder strengthened and even that weak of a squeeze made Ed wince. Pinako, who Ed had just noticed, couldn't or wouldn't look at him and she kept glancing out the window to the far left. She must have been waiting for a doctor… but it didn't matter…

_I'm slipping off the edge  
I'm hanging by a thread  
I wanna start this over again _

Ed's eyes began to get heavier and the tears he had shed from the beginning began to burn the rims of his eyelids. He felt Winry's palm brush across his forehead to swipe at sweaty bangs and she let her hand rest at the beginning of his hairline.

"E-Ed…" her voice broke and he let his head fall to the side again, making a few stray strands of his damp hair fall from her grasp and hang above his nose. He lip trembled as she spoke again, "You can't say things l-like that… A d-doctor's on the w-way, and y-you'll be fine." she nodded reassuringly, just like Al beside her. For a fleeting moment, he wanted to go back, back to when it all began with their mother dying… If only…

_So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered _

Back when their mother was alive, it seemed nothing could end their almost care-free lives and they'd always stay together in Resembul; He, Al, and Winry with both Winry's and their parents. They'd all play around the lake, river, everywhere and everyone was happy. Ed and Al would challenge each other with their alchemy and Winry would play whatever game the brothers chose as long as it wasn't alchemy. But… it all went awry after Winry's parents were killed. Then, it steadily began to darken on their childish happiness and bright days.

_And I can't explain what happened  
And I can't erase the things that I've done  
No I can't  
_  
How had it all went so wrong in such a short amount of time, and why them? For the life of him, he couldn't imagine what they had done to explain all the bad and terrible things that had happened. He wished so much to take everything done and said and erase them from their past so as to live carelessly like before, no matter how unrealistic it sounded.

_How could this happen to me  
I made my mistakes  
I've got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away  
I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me _

Ed smiled weakly at her words, though he didn't full heartedly believe them. His middle gave a nasty clench and throb and he tasted metallic fluid pooling in his mouth, either from him biting down on his lips, or from somewhere within, he couldn't tell. He struggled to keep it down as he tried to speak again, but only moved his pale lips mutely.

Suddenly, as if someone had hit him, memories as mute as himself came to his mind's eye and everything fell into place. Envy… he was the cause of this pain, the reason he was left to nothing more than a weak and hopeless mess on the verge of breaking past his limits. He felt his auto-mail arm clench into fists but only a three of his fingers functioned; some of the nerve connections had been damaged. Now, he remembered fighting with him, just after changing Al back… Ed had to guard his brother from the homunculus's attempts to do harm for Al was no longer a large suit of armor, and he also had no recollection of what was happening.

That must have been hell, to finally gain your human body back, but also watch your brother die right before just moments after…

Ed took in a sharp breath as his energy to fight off death plummeted and he now was at the end of life's wings.

There was a banging on the front door somewhere in the house and Pinako moved with such a speed Ed didn't think she had left in her and quickly reemerged with a doctor. Winry and Al hurriedly moved to the side as the doctor slide back the white sheets and stared, his mouth slightly agape, at his torn body. Winry looked away and Al toggled horrified glances between Ed and the doctor who slowly lowered the sheet and looked at Pinako hopelessly. Ed tried to give a nonchalant snort, but found breathing n itself difficult suddenly.

The doctor routinely checked Ed's pupils and pulse and finally swallowed gravely as he motioned Pinako to talk outside privately.

_I made my mistakes  
I've got no where to run  
_

Winry was the first to dash to his bedside as Al walked shakily toward her side to stare at the space on the sheets that shielded his eyes from what lay beneath. Through half-opened eyes, Ed looked at Al,

"Hey…" Ed whispered hoarsely, not real sure if his younger brother heard him or not until Al turned to him. Ed swallowed back the tears with great effort before continuing, "…you'll be fine…okay?… You've g-got P-Pina-Pinako… and W-Winry…" He couldn't do it and suddenly, he couldn't stop the tears either. For the first time, he was scared, scared to leave, scared to die, like this. Al hung his head and the whole room was filled with sobs from both Winry and Al as Ed cried silently with dull pupils.

Al tried to say something_…Anything, _but couldn't through the flow of racking sobs

_The night goes on  
As I'm fading away _

"I want… you to grow up… with no r-regrets… This-" he took in a long breath as it became difficult now to even whisper, "is NOT y-you fault…" Al nodded and finally fell to his knees by Ed's middle, griping the sheets relentlessly. Ed turned his head to Winry and took in another long breath,

_"_I want y-you to l-live... your life j-just like… alw-ways," Winry griped at the sheets too and closed her eyes, unable to look at Ed's eyes that continued to dim, "Al n-needs you…"

"I-I can't." she sobbed shakily and Ed took the last amount of energy he could muster to grab her by her shirt collar to pull her down as his voice dropped so low, he didn't think she'd hear him, even at their closeness.

_I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream _

"Y-Yes… you… can…" for a fleeting moment, she saw life almost spring back to life in his eyes and she nodded reluctantly, noticing the corner of her mouth brush his ever so slightly as she did so. And, before he lowered himself back into the pillow, he let his lips linger there a moment before she whispered between sobs,

"I l-love you…" she felt him smile as he lowered himself and Al's sobs continued as hers started again after he responded as loud as he could endeavor,

"I love you too…" it had come out clear as day as another and final tear slipped out of the corner of his eye, and landed on the pillow beneath his head. His eyes dimmed completely and his vision began to black out around the edges, before finally cutting into the center, where Winry faded from his sight. He wanted to stay, more than anything at that moment… with them.

_How could this happen to me_

That's when Ed woke up, laughing away the dream as a few tears of relief and anguish fell upon his white sheets...

A/N: I didn't think that writing this little story would come out as easily as it did, but hey… But I will admit, just writing this story, made me shed a few tears… I know, I know, ending's a bit sappy, huh? Well, anyway, R&R, please! ;3 Now, I may write another one like this but, it'll end differently, but I dunno, depends on the reviews, I guess. I really didn't know whether or not to make it all a dream or not, but in the end, I couldn't do it to Ed. ;3


End file.
